


El sabor de la victoria

by duraznero



Category: Breaking Bad
Genre: Carrying a torch for your soulmate until your dying day, M/M, Mourning, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-24 03:23:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17093117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/duraznero/pseuds/duraznero
Summary: No matter if it would taste like home and Max’s kisses, it would kill him all the same.





	El sabor de la victoria

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bisexualjesse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bisexualjesse/gifts).



> Merry belated Christmas! I promised that you would get to read it, and what better occasion than the holidays?

„ Gustavo? Please open the door. We have to talk.“

Max’s voice came from outside but Gustavo didn’t even bother to get out of the shower. A part of him wishes he could just drown in here because everything would be better than going to that place, this cavern full of vipers.

Another round of knocks. „Come on, don’t be like that. Unlock the door,“ Max sighed and leaned against the door as no response came, „If we wouldn’t have to leave, I could be here all day.“

Gustavo closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. „We still have three hours.“ He was taken back at how hoarse his voice sounded, even though he had barely slept and it shouldn’t be a surprise.

„ _Bombon _. Please.“ How he wished that Max’s pleas would be meeting deaf ears and not his.__

____

„I’m thinking.“

„You can think on the couch or in the kitchen.“ Max let out a laugh. „Besides, I really have to pee.“

„ _Cielos _.“ Gustavo exclaimed and got out. After drying himself off with a towel to not flood the bathroom, he opened the door.__

____

He was luckless in trying to walk past Max when the latter gently grabbed his shoulders and held him in place to look at him with worry in his eyes.

„Hey.“

Before Gustavo could reply, Max was holding him in a tight hug, his warm clothed body pressed against his own cold humid one. When Gustavo put his arms around Max’s torso, Max put his head on his shoulder and they stood there for what Gustavo hoped would stretch into an eternity.

„Don’t worry about this. We got this, it’s basically a _home run _.“__

____

The corners of Gustavo’s mouth briefly turned upwards.

„I’m not joking, I have a great feeling about this! Look“, he put his hands on Gustavo’s shoulders and the smile on his face almost made him forget about his worries, „their guys really liked our product so that should speak for itself. We are a completely legitimate business that won’t catch the feds’ attention so we’re safe on that front and it’s gonna be promising for them.“

„Yes, but it’s not us I’m worried about. You know exactly the reputation of these people; paranoid, trigger-happy and easy with their grudges. What if they don’t trust us or, hell, just don’t like the look of us? Jesus, they could think we’re narcs, and you know what the cartel does with people who piss them off. The burned corpses, the decapitated heads, the -“

„Gustavo.“ Max tightened the grip on him and looked him in the eyes. „It won’t happen. Trust me, I know it won’t. You’re the best damn business man I have ever met in my life, and I’m not just saying this because I love you. If Don Eladio doesn’t see this, he has got to be out of his mind, and I don’t think he is.“ He grinned smugly. „Besides, I’m the best damn chemist in Michoácan, perhaps even the whole country. We’re a dreamteam.“

Gustavo sighed and pursed his lips. „You make this sound so easy.“

„That’s because it is so easy. You’ll see, we are going to drive home this evening, then I’m making us some dinner and we’ll have a toast. You won’t believe what I found the other day in the liquor store, red wine from the Elqui valley!“ Max beamed at him and Gustavo couldn’t help but returning the smile. 

„So we’re gonna have a little taste from home, and when we wake up next morning with a headache and show up too late at work, you’ll have forgotten about worrying completely.“

Gustavo laughed. „Let’s hope you’re right.“

Max made a face. „When was I ever wrong?“

 

He never bothered to find out what happened with the car with which they had arrived and since he didn’t have the keys - they had been in the pocket of Max’s leather jacket since he had volunteered to drive after a brief argument between them - he couldn’t leave on his own. Even if he had them, he wouldn't have known if he had been able to.  
It was two cartel goons in a black Chrysler with tinted windows who chauffeured him back to the house. They dropped him off at the driveway and as soon as Gustavo closed the car door, they hit the gas and are gone. For a moment which feels like an eternity, he just stood in front of the door. He can’t go back in there, not where Max had been less than 10 hours ago.

He unlocked the door nevertheless - he was surprised at how he barely fumbled the keys in his jacket - and stepped inside. Of course, it looked just like when they had left, after Max had closed the door behind him while Gustavo was sitting in the car and his mind was racing 120 miles per hour. There were Max’s pairs of shoes, neatly placed in a corner next to the door and right next to his.  
One of his jackets - not his favorite one, because that was the one he wore today - was hanging on the door. On a corner of the couch there was a pile of clean clothes which Max had just gotten out of the washing machine this morning but not yet bothered to fold and put in the cupboard. He had said he would have time for this later, or most likely tomorrow. They weren’t gonna fold clothes after a successful business meeting.

The kitchen was clean, as always when they left home because Max had a thing about not leaving it dirty when they would leave the apartment for several hours - including work, so they had to plan in time to clean the dishes before they left.  
There was only one thing on the counter: a single bottle.

_The vino tinto he bought… he must have forgotten to put it in the fridge ___

____

Gustavo felt his legs shake and held onto the door frame, otherwise he might've hit his head on the tiles and bleed out right there. He wasn’t sure if he minded the possibility of it. He took a deep breath and heard himself choke, but it sounded so far away from here and more as if it were happening to someone else, with him as a mere witness. He coughed and ran his hands over his face only to realize it was wet and hot. He didn’t even think it was possible to still be able to cry after so many hours, could a person even run out of tears, was that a possibility?  
Everything hurt, his head, his eyes, his throat, the muscles in his chest. He was just tired.  
But instead of caving in on himself, he made his way to the kitchen table, took out a chair and slouched on it, his eyes never leaving the bottle.  
What they thought would be a victory had become a nightmare, and if Gustavo were to drink this poisoned wine, no matter if it would taste like home and Max’s kisses, it would kill him all the same.

__

 

__

Everything he did in the United States amounted to this day. Killing Eladio and his underlings in what they perceived as the ultimate victory felt good but the feeling wouldn’t come close to ending Héctor Salamanca’s life after completely ruining it for him. Sure, there was the odd curveball thrown in his way, like the Varga boy who so badly had wanted to save his father, but it was nothing that Gustavo couldn’t handle, and in the end even that had been in his favor.  
Tonight was the eve of his victory and tomorrow his unrivalled reign would begin. Eladio Vuente was no more, from tomorrow on there would be no more Héctor Salamanca and after that, very very soon if everything went according to play, there'd be no more Walter White.

__

Gustavo’s lips curved when he opened the wine drawer and took out the bottle.

1988, Chardonnay, Valle Elquí.

A fine flavor to enjoy a victory.

__


End file.
